


soccer match

by Fredwrites



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, angus and taako bonding, i mean like theres some swearing but idk if that needs a teen rating lmao, protective dad taako, theres minor injury but nothing extreme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2017-08-24
Packaged: 2018-12-19 09:17:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11894670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fredwrites/pseuds/Fredwrites
Summary: taako goes to angus's soccer match and of course taako shows up everyone else





	soccer match

**Author's Note:**

> this was a request from my taz tumblr, @l-u-p , go and suggest me something to write over there.  
> also sorry if some of the rules/terminoligy for soccer is incorrect, i'm only really aquainted with british football :'D

Taako woke up to the sound of his Stone of Farspeech ringing. He groaned, holding a hand to his forehead. Kravitz stirred beside him, but didn't wake up.

Reluctantly, Taako rolled over and picked up the device, fumbling with the screen before holding it to his ear.

"Hey, listen up, this better be good bucko, because you just w-"

"H-hello sir! It's me, Angus!"

"Oh." Taako instantly felt the rage drain from his body, and his shoulders relaxed. He got up and out of bed, and closed the door of the room behind him gently, smiling a little at Kravitz's sleeping form.

"I, ah, I have a request, sir."

Taako chuckled. "I told you, you can drop the formalities. It's not like we work together anymore."

"Oh, right. Anyways, I'm having a soccer match tomorrow and I was wondering if you'd come and support me?" There was a brief pause, and then: "But I totally understand if you can't, you're very busy and have a lot to concern yourself with, so--"

"Look, Angus, it's--" Taako glanced at the clock on the wall, and had to stop himself from cussing. "It's 1 in the afternoon and you literally just woke me up. As you can see, I'm not exactly an elf of action and order. So yeah, don't sweat it, I'll come."

A hasty intake of breath came out of Taako's Stone of Farspeech and he rolled his eyes-but fondly. "Oh, that's just excellent sir, I'll make a note of it in my planner. It's at 4:30 pm, I promise you won't regret it! I've been doing calculations, and if everything goes as planned, there's a 98 percent chance of success for my team!"

"Sure, sure kiddo, sounds great. See ya soon."

\----

If Taako was going to this thing, he made sure to show up every soccer mom there. He wore a long, flowing coat with furred edges and boots with heels that challenged even him.

Putting on his most extravagant hat, Taako waved goodbye to Kravitz and made his way to Angus's school.

He glanced about, and made mental notes on every flaw he could spot-after all, his and Lucas's school were rivals. Oh, he'd use this to his advantage.

The pitch was spread across the field behind the building, and Taako took a front row seat. The orc woman sitting next to him and holding a baby smiled.

"Who's your kid?" she asked.

Taako scanned the respective teams being given pep talks by their coaches. He spotted a short figure with a head of curly hair. For the first time, he noticed that Angus was quite a bit shorter than his peers.

Taako pointed with one nail-polished finger. The orc woman's eyebrows raised.

"Wow, Angus McDonald? He's top of all his classes-a real prodigy! Bet you're proud of the kid!" She barked a laugh.

"Oh, y'know," Taako said, looking at his nails. "Like father like son."

Before long the teams were trailing onto the pitch and taking their positions. Angus was a striker-huh. Taako hadn't expected that.

The kid looked around quickly, and Taako waved, as if shooing a fly. Angus's eyes glowed like fireflies and his cheeks could hardly contain his grin. He was brought back to attention as the match began with the shrill cry of a whistle.

Taako didn't think a children's soccer game could be intense, but for one of the rare moments in his life, he was incorrect. In contrast, he found himself becoming more and more invested as the game went on.

It appeared as if this sort of tension was commonplace for the other parents attending the match. One father was holding a massive sign painted with the words: "GO TIMOTHY." A dark elf and a halfling were up in arms as to which school was better than the other. Taako simply reclined in his seat and watched on as Angus's team scored another goal.

It was half time, and they were winning, 3-1. After another brief pep talk, the action began again, only to lead to a stumble in the road to success. The striker of the opposing team weaved around the defence with magnitudes of grace for a tween, and scored.

3-2. Taako felt the sweat on the back of his neck begin to trickle down his spine. He fanned himself with his hand. Gods, was it hot out here or was it just him?

As one of the mid-fielders on Angus's team took a tumble, that same striker nabbed the ball and again, scored. Taako heard a righteous whoop ring out from the stand opposite him.

Time was running short. Taako's heart leapt from his chest up to the back of his tongue and beat there relentlessly. His eyes widened as he watched Angus overtake his teammates with a speed he didn't know the kid had.

"Pass to me!" The ball came hurtling over like a comet and Angus bounced it from foot to foot before chasing it toward the goal.

Things had begun to look up. Maybe there was a light at the end of the tunnel, just maybe-

And then Angus tripped. It happened very quickly, but the way he went over, and the angle of the fall, told Taako the aftermath wouldn't be pretty.

He couldn't help but notice how close that persistent little striker had been to Angus when he went over. In fact--

"Hey! HEY! Foul, red card, whatever you guys say! That got physical, no fair!"

Taako's eyes scanned the crowd on the field below until he spotted Angus, lying on the grass, clutching the elbow he'd landed on. His glasses were fogged up and looked to be cracked.

Immediately, Taako was on his feet and barging past the other parents. He marched over to the sidelines, where Angus was now sitting on a bench. One of the reserves had been put out in his place. Anger leapt up Taako's form, like steam escaping a kettle.

"Sir, what're you doing?" the coach asked, frowning.

"I'll have you fucking know-"

"These are *children*-"

"I'll have you *fuckin'* know, that I'm Taako from TV, and this kid, my kid, right here, is top of his class and he deserves way better than to be tripped up when he was rightfully winning."

"We didn't see anything, so we can't foul it-"

Taako shook his head, eyes steely and narrowed. "Come on Angus, let's get out of here."

"But-but my elbow-"

"We'll go to the hospital. Come on." The two went away, Taako in the lead, Angus wandering behind.

It only took a couple of spells and a sling for posterity for Angus to be healed-it was only a sprain. Taako didn't say much-simply flipped through a magazine and tried to calm the simmering in his veins. Blowing up again wouldn't help anything.

Once they were out, Taako took a seat on a bench nearby and tilted his head back.

"I'm so sorry about all of that, kiddo. You didn't deserve it." He looked over at Angus. His eyes were full of tears, that started to spill almost as soon as Taako saw them. His hands bunched up in his soccer uniform and he hunched over.

"Hey-hey, Ango, hon, don't...don't cry!" Taako hovered over him helplessly before patting his shoulder gently and then bringing him into a ginger embrace.

Angus pushed his head into Taako's chest and let out a few deep sobs. He took a breath before drawing away, sniffing and wiping his nose on his sleeve. He fixed his glasses' position and stared at his shoes.

"I- I can't believe how bad I messed up."

"What? No, Angus, you didn't-that wasn't your fault! That little shit tripped you up."

"If I'd been paying better attention.."

"Screw that! You were in your element kid, I mean, colour me impressed. You really...tried." Taako looked out at the trees on the opposite street, which were slowly turning orange and red as Autumn crept around the corner.

"You've been through a lot of shit Angus, especially for someone your age. Don't let some stupid game of soccer get you down. We all make mistakes." Taako gestured to himself. "I mean, Gods, look at me. I'm a veritable fucking patchwork of mistakes and yet I'm the best thing since fantasy sliced bread."

He tapped Angus under the chin, to which he smiled. "Believe me, I'm proud of you. Don't you forget that."

Angus nodded, and straightened his posture. "Well, I'll just try even harder next time, then."

"Hey, that's the spirit. How about we go get some ice cream, huh? My treat."

Angus grinned. They began to walk down the street. "Hey sir?"

"Yuh-huh?"

"Earlier, you referred to me as your kid, so-"

"Hey. Don't push it mister."


End file.
